Council members voiced their concerns during Monday night's meeting in regards to the potential water main replacement rebate program and have decided to vote against it.

"It just didn't seem to hit the right nerve that it would get the majority of people satisfied, explained Mayor, Roy Ludwig. "A lot of people thought if you're going to do something, do something major but then the issue of course with that, the cost would be such that it would defeat the whole purpose of why we raised the rate to begin with. So there was a lot of mixed feelings. Quite a few of the people we talked to said, simply if you can't get it right, don't do anything at all.

"Everyone would agree with the intention moving forward they wont have to pay the $10,000. Originally when it was 80/20 it would have been $20,000 but then with the 50/50 it was $10,000, and now moving forward with water main replacement it will be zero."

Over 680 properties are in some stage of paying or have paid it back over the years, and Ludwig knows it leaves them in a tough situation moving forward.

"The big issue here was the people that had done it since 2004, how do you make them happy. It's a tough road that we faced. None really seemed that the suggestion the city manager and his team made didn't think it was worth a bother to give them $60 for ten years, they thought they should have more than that."

City council also took responsibility for a mistake in residents bills which stated that as of April 1st, there would be an additional fee on the billing, even before the second and third reading had passed.

"That was just an honest mistake, it happens through maybe not enough communication in this particular case. We should of had an addendum to the fact that on the bill that we are working through this, and that the motion itself had passed but we were working through the issues of how do we mitigate this $5 per month. We could have had that on there, but the actual motion which had already passed, a lot of our people thought our motion passed so they thought we're good to go. We should have had the explanation on the bill when it was sent out, and for that we apologize."

Mayor Roy Ludwig also commented on the recent passing of former Mayor Bernie Collins, who served the City of Estevan from 1985-1988. Ludwig has said in the past that Collins was the main reason of why he got into politics in the first place.

"Fond memories, Bernie had a good sense of humor. It was a joy working with him not only on council but when he was Mayor. We had a lot of laughs, but at the same time got business done," Ludwig said of his friend and mentor.

Council also received a letter from the Town of Stoughton, which was in support of the city's decision to decommission the Civic Auditorium.

Four Public Works tenders were also given the go ahead which were a part of the city's fleet renewal budget.

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